The rotary legend sings again

Introduction:
Well, this comes to my second ever car review. It's been a while since I've owned my Protege, and for what "we" needed at the time it has served it's purpose. But now I'm looking more specifically for a car for myself. To explain the difference between my last review and this one, this car is for me, for my purposes. I don't want to impress my mother, my boyfriend, or my boss. I don't care what a punk teenager in his Civic with a loud exhaust thinks, and well, the American muscle heads are too busy trying to prove they're better than everyone else. I simply want to have fun. So if "fun" is what I want you say, how do I define fun? What makes a car truly qualify? Well, I don't care about big engines for one, and I know power is only half the story. I like light, nimble, crisp handling, and lots of throttle response. Ultimately, I want a car that I can take to the track and put down very respectable times, then pick up some grocery's on my way home. An all arounder, if you will... and with that, onto our review.

The Competition:
Well, looking around lately, the performance market isn't anywhere near in short demand of high performance machines. From America we have the new Mustang GT (which performed so terribly, I wont bother to review it), the Pontiac GTO (the best American car, that's actually Australian), and lastly and most likely the least the Chrysler Crossfire (Er,... just looking at it makes me say no). From the German corner we have the beautiful Audi TT, and the BMW M3 and lastly, but certainly not least, from the Japanese corner we have the Nissan 350z, and the Honda S2000. I did leave out a couple of cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette, but I thought they either didn't fit the market quite right, or were somewhat out of the RX-8's league in terms of price, performance, or both.

Pontiac GTO
Now this is a car that should raise some eyebrows, especially those of the people around me. I don't normally care for American cars very much, they either sacrifice too much to save weight to offset their large engines, they're too big, not built with very quality materials, or just any number of problems that I constantly have every time I get into one. Don't get me wrong, I respect American muscle cars, for their time they were fantastic. 40 years ago Ford even beat Ferrari, and that's a large feat for anyone to do. But sadly that day was 40 years ago, and that day is long gone now. However, this car is just a little bit different. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Yeah, but it's Australian." right?. Well, it is, I mean, it was (they're now discontinuing it). The platform was originally designed in Australia, and it is built in Australia. So really, just the motor is American... and they've warmed that over on their own, too. Driving this thing just makes you wonder, why didn't GM release this car before? Why not make it the new Camaro back then? It really is that good. It's a bit on the large side, but the handling is very neutral, and I can't think of a better overall package for this Small Block Chevy engine. So those are the good scores, but where does it fall short of the RX-8? Well, for one the interior, while functional, still felt very cheap, and the handling just wasn't as precise as the RX-8. Granted, the RX-8's primary design (and Mazda's in general for that matter) was based completely around handling. It's also a Pontiac, which means the electrical system will fail on you, and you only have about a year or two worth of power steering before it has to be fixed, again. Okay, so that might be a bit of hyperbole... but Pontiac does have a reputation for that sort of thing. All in all, if a big American V8 makes your heart pump a little faster, then there really aren't a whole lot of other options.

Audi TT
Ah, the Germans. I know what most Americans say, oh, right... they brought us BMW. Well, yes, technically they did... and I will review one here in a minute. But there's also a not-so-new kid on the block that so happens to be a part of the largest German auto group, and they so happen to have a little sports car as well. It's called the TT, and well... where do I begin. First to look at one of these, they're absolutely beautiful to look at. Every curve looks as if it was mapped out very carefully on a computer. It's very... well, symmetrical. That is, every curve leaves the way it was entered. The few angles it does have, simply emphasize the original motion. Fantastic. Now the version I chose to test drive was the 1.8 Turbo, as the 3.2 did not come with a manual option. That is, of course, my first problem with the TT. I don't like the DSG gearbox. I don't want it. It's overly complex, overly heavy, overly inefficient... and to top it off, too expensive. My second problem is, if you want the V6 with 250 brake horsepower it'll cost you... around 40,000 American dollars. Yeesh! It's within what I'm willing to pay, but not when I can get a fully loaded RX-8 for 7 grand less. The good marks for the Audi is the quattro system is very lovely, In most conditions, roads, environments etc. the performance rarely, if ever, changes. I feel like I can drive it just as hard in the snow, or on gravel. Also, in typical Audi fashion, this thing has amazing response. I never really have to worry about what gear I'm in, I have quite a lot of torque available to me at all times. On the other hand, if you plan on carrying anything besides your iPod and a laptop in the Audi, forget it. There's more or less space for me, one passenger, and that is it in this thing. Also, like the GTO the interior is a little bit basic again, and not the prettiest of interiors either. This to me was rather disappointing coming from Audi (who I regard as among the best in interior design). I also noticed a very high amount of understeer. I really had to fight between letting go of the throttle and getting back on it again, just to keep it in line. It really shows its Beetle origins in the twisty stuff, and that for me was the last straw for the Audi.

BMW M3
Now, let's be honest, this is the one you skipped straight to right? Well, it is the main competitor to the RX-8, and on the track they're always at each others throat. The first thing I noticed about this car is it has a redline of 9000rpm, just like the rotary. I must admit, despite what everyone told me about it having such a smooth torque curve, I kind of expected it to be a bit more finicky. But to my actual surprise, it wasn't. It actually had a perfect amount of weight over the rear tires, and in BMW fashion it has a wonderful chassis that is very well maintained and always very neutral. It had an ever so slight amount of understeer at the limit, but with a bit more throttle and a motion of the wheel, the rear end would begin to step out ever so gracefully. When you wanted it to all come back together again, you just let go of the throttle and it almost straightens itself out. Even a novice could go sideways in this thing all day long. This is certainly one of the most balanced cars I've ever driven to date, it really is exceptionally good. But if it were good enough to beat the Mazda RX-8 I guess I'd be comparing the RX-8 to the BMW in a review on the M3, right? My first problem with it is, the price is just ridiculous, I mean granted it is one of the most powerful and luxurious contenders here, at 50 grand it's no bargain, either. I was complaining about the Audi's price, but this is on a whole new level. For that money I could buy a Corvette, and for Chevy fans looking at buying a brand new BMW, well, I wouldn't blame them for heading straight back to the Chevrolet dealer. So, the cost is a staggering 17,000$ more than the RX-8 (and mind you, the real reason I'm reviewing this car is that this is what Mazda is trying to compete with here). My other problem is BMW isn't exactly known for their 6 cylinder engines, and if you buy one of those I'd imagine you'd spend the entire time wishing you had bought one of the V8 powered E39 M5's instead. BMW should have really put a V8 in this car from the beginning, but fortunately it looks as if though the new M3 will feature a V8 as one of it's improvements. I guess we'll see on that one, but needless to say, Mazda does truly take some good shots at BMW with the RX-8, and they succeed at infiltrating that BMW shield. I understand spending a little extra for the propeller, it is cute, but 17,000$ to me is just plain silly.

Nissan 350z
Ah, Japan. What have those quirky guys been up to now? Besides making BMW killers, that is. Well, there's nothing quirky or cute about it, and I don't think it needs an introduction. The muscle car of the modern man (or woman). This is a car that I think took us all by storm. It did me at least. I mean, when it came out I wasn't exactly sure what to think. I hadn't expected it, I mean, didn't the last 300zx Twin Turbo sort of, well, fail? But at the same time I guess, you understand why a badge that has gone through so much history now must remain. I mean, the Fairlady Z was the first Japanese sports car to become successful in America. If it wasn't for this car, the Mazda RX-8 might not even be here. And let's be honest, this is a very serious competitor here. Nissan has undergone a lot of changes as of late, and I applaud them very much. Almost every car in their line up somehow achieves to be some of the best cars in their respective classes, and some just take the class by storm and dominate. I mean, the Nissan Titan makes GMC's look like kittens, it is currently THE truck to own. So does it stop at trucks a la Toyota? Well, in short, no. The 350z is like a big fat sore thumb sticking right up in the middle of everything else. It makes no apologies for what it is, or what it isn't. It's just there, you can try to ignore it, but something about it just makes ignoring it seem impossible. This car personifies my statement of "Modesty is not an option". Just putting the keys in the ignition and turning it on makes my heart race. This car is an absolute visceral experience, no matter what circumstances you put it through. Every time you rev the engine past 3000rpm it's very... there. In your face, all the time, screaming at you. And the grip levels of this thing are absolutely insane, I mean I can throw it into a turn at wide open throttle and it just keeps begging me to push it harder. My only problem is, when you do, and the rear tyres finally do lose grip, it'll snap oversteer like an old 911. I personally had to find that out the hard way. Even still, the limits are set very high, and most people (with the exception of being on the track) will not find out where that limit is. That said, the interior is absolutely gorgeous, and very well laid out. I particularly liked how the navigation system sat high and prominent in the center console. This is truly the only car that I can personally think of that competes with the Mazda RX-8 and has a chance at all.

Honda S2000
Ah, Honda. *sigh* If it were my choice, I'd leave this car out. But, then I'd have Honda fans argue until they're blue in the face that it's not fair etc. For the most part, they're right, I guess. Well, where do I begin? First a little context. I actually got a chance to drive this car a little on accident. It was a brand new car in Honda's lineup at the time, and there was a small crowd surrounding it and talking about it. There were several people there with the manager of the dealership, some of them being put on the wait list to buy one, others just talking about it. I stood around for a short while just looking at the mechanics, and soon carried on about my business (I was there to buy a Mazda after all). Well, later that day there were only 2 salesmen talking around it, after it had been brought back and so I took a little bit of a closer look. I thought it was an interesting car, and to be honest I still do. The first thing I noticed about it upon getting inside is the interior. Er, what it has of an interior anyways. There really isn't one, if the Pontiac GTO and the Audi TT have bland interiors, well this is just on a whole new level of blandness. I've seen better interiors from cars made in 1985. The build quality wasn't exactly bad, it was just horrifically bland. This was actually one of the first road cars I've seen with a "start" button. It actually took me a few seconds to figure you put the keys in the ignition then press it (normally you would activate the fuel pumps, and so forth and then press it without a key). So, onto the driving experience. This car, like most Honda's revs to astonishing heights. I mean, 9000rpm and it felt like it wanted to go further. I seem to remember thinking that this engine sort of reminded me of a small, more road-legal version of a Formula 1 car. I will say everything about it felt very solid, which is good or bad depending who you are. I tend to have a precise, finesse driving style so in some sense this turned out bad for me. The steering did feel very weighted though, and the gears locked with a certain forceful haste about them. What I find odd to this day is that, while the steering is rather neutral... it still felt like a FWD, despite being RWD. How on earth did Honda achieve that? I'm still wondering to this day. Overall, the performance still lacked behind the Mazda RX-8, it's handling isn't quite as precise... and I really didn't care for the interior. It's a good car in concept, but as is the case quite often with Honda, the execution leaves something to be desired.

The Competition Summary:
Well, I think I included a fair amount of cars that were in or around the same class as the Mazda RX-8. Overall each car had their problems and drawbacks that I wasn't satisfied with, and so does the RX-8. The car that came closest, for me, was the Nissan 350z, and in some respects it was a better car, but overall the RX-8 is slightly cheaper, felt more balanced, has more cargo space etc. etc... we all know the RX-8 won out of these cars, so let's get onto the review of our winner. :)

Looks:
Let's be honest here, there's a lot of cars out there on the market. In this segment, as I said, there's no shortage of options. One of the most important things about buying a car is actually the looks, it's the one thing that defines what car it is. Handling can be fixed, stability helped (a spoiler on the 350z, for example), performance enhanced... but you can't completely change the looks, it's still going to be the car you bought car no matter what. In this category, the RX-8 is, at worst, one of the most unique looking cars on the road. I never see an RX-8 and go "oh, look, a Toyota". Car manufacturers lately have been leaning on somewhat offensive designs, and rightfully so. Everyone wants to be unique, and that applies to buying a car as well. It's a very useful tool in selling cars, actually. Mazda didn't go too vulgar with the styling but they wanted to make a machine that looked just as unique as the engine that it carries. They wanted to make something that stood out, and in that endeavor I think Mazda has succeeded. This car especially stands out with the Mazdaspeed front splitters, side skirts, diffusers and spoiler. It's one of the best looking cars on the road in my opinion, and as such, this scores huge points for it for me. I've even started to see car manufacturers copy parts of the RX-8's design. They say imitation is the truest form of flattery, right? So in this respect, I have to say, the RX-8 is one of the best looking cars in this bunch.

Interior/Amenities/etc.
Well, to start on this one... one irritating thing is the integrated center console/stereo area. I haven't bought one yet, but I'm really hoping I can install some form of adequate audio in it. Other than that, the AC is rather good, as has been my experience with Ford's ACs. The navigation system is better than I expected, but it isn't quite on par with some of their competition. One thing I absolutely love is the digital speedometer and the fact that I can change it from KM to Miles (very handy for me, as I'm more used to using KM, but sometimes need to know Miles for speed limit or distance reasons). The steering wheel controls worked fairly well, and the seating position was relatively comfortable. It had a pretty reasonable amount of lateral support, however I would likely install my own buckets. Overall everything felt a lot more solidly built than the sticker price would suggest.

Space/Cargo Room
This is one area that the RX-8 excels at. While the rear seats have a center pillar that extends from the front to them, the rear buckets could even accommodate a rear child seat rather well, and were amazingly functional for this type of car (which is part of the reason I relate the RX-8 more closely with the BMW M3. The rear leg room isn't going to pull you away from a Mercedes S-Class but I found it to be pretty reasonable (although I am rather small). I've heard a large CRT TV can fit back there with the front seat pulled forward, using the suicide doors. That's actually pretty impressive for a car of this type, in some ways it seems more practical than a lot of economy cars.

Acceleration
Well you are looking at buying a sports car, are you not? And it seems especially in America, this is one of the primary/key areas that define how good a sports car is. Well, in a straight line it's not quite as fast as the 350z. That brings us to a little bit of a conspiracy, because, originally I think Mazda rated the RX-8 at 245 brake horsepower (if I remember right, that figure might not be perfect). They later lowered it when they realized that the system they used to rate it wasn't as accurate, so that number was taken down to 238. It's understandable that rotary engines have different production tolerances, and in general produce torque a little differently. It's not quite as easy for them to get an accurate number. So, Mazda, to secure their reputation, did allow current RX-8 owners that bought their cars previous to that date to take them back to the dealer for a full refund. In my opinion those owners that did that are rather stupid, because they pretty much missed out on one of the best cars ever made. Regardless of that fact, the specifications Mazda posted in terms of 0-100km/h (0-62mph) times and all that remained exactly the same. The car wasn't suddenly or magically slower because of that fact. Some people even claimed that it was lower than 238, but regardless of that I did my own tests with it. I setup an area to test within that I personally measured myself, and it was exactly 400 meters (slightly less than a quarter of a mile) long. I then, using my mobile phone, had set it up to have someone time me when I crossed that 400 meter mark. The results were high 14's to start with, and when my tyres obtained optimum operating temperature I indeed nailed Mazda's claimed ~14.5 seconds without fail. That's pretty reasonable for a car at this price, with that much power, in this class. In fact, I was a little surprised it did that well, as I had a difficult time getting used to the rotaries characteristics and the difference in clutching at first. In comparison, I believe the 350z was close to around 14.3.

Edit: I lost the URL (I'll post it if I find it again), however Mazda actually posted their test results online! I've NEVER heard of ANY manufacturer doing this. However, on some test cars it did it in as much as 14.8s. On average
(they had 2 pre-production, and 2 post-production machines) it did it in 14.6s, and once warmed up (usually on a second pass) they achieved 14.5s. This is EXACTLY my findings, and on the whole there exists no data from the manufacturer as solid as what Mazda has posted. Mazda has showed us here that they are very concerned for their customers and most importantly want to offer a quality product that's depicted accurately. I have not seen Honda or any other manufacturer work this hard to prove their honesty. I really have to give it to Mazda on this one, and it makes me want to support a company that shows they care about their integrity this much.

Handling
This is where the RX-8 really shined and for me pulled far ahead of the competition. Something truly beautiful happens when a driver connects with her machine. I can throw this car into apexes all day long with just 1 hand. It's utterly predictable and effortless. In this price range, few cars could maintain the consistency that this car can. All around, I can't say enough for how well balanced it is. This is where it begins to catch up, and even surpass many cars that are far more expensive, and have much more power. The BMW has a 95 horsepower advantage, for example, and usually posts similar track times.

Safety
As far as active safety goes, the RX-8 has a standard Multi-Link Fully Independent Suspension, Anti-Lock Brakes, and Discs all around. Passively it features side impact air bags and Mazda's crumple zone design. Overall it receives 4 and 5 stars in every category. It is one of the safest cars amongst those listed.

Reliability
From what most RX-8 owners have told me, their cars have remained to be fairly reliable. I know of a few that had flooding issues early on, but that seems to be a more isolated issue now. I think some customers forget that a motor is a very, very sensitive piece of machinery and that you should allow it to warm up before driving it. Of course, the more sensitive nature of rotaries allowed some issues to become more apparent than on other cars. They take a little more TLC than your average economy car, but to me it's a small price to pay for how smooth they are, and how linear the torque band is.

Warranty
The standard warranty that Mazda offers is 48 months or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first (copied directly from Mazda's website on the date of writing this). This is slightly higher than the typical warranty, although I would like it to be a little bit longer, you can usually purchase an extended warranty from your dealer if you think you'll need it.

Summary
Well, that concludes my second car review, of, well... my second Mazda. I know it seems ironic, but it really is coincidental (though I do like Mazda's, I like many other cars as well). In my opinion I have test drove a good handful of cars and none are quite as good as the Mazda RX-8. It's perfectly balanced in almost every category and offers a lot of value for the money.

In conclusion, if you're thinking of buying a BMW M3, buy an RX-8 instead. If you're thinking of buying a 350z, well, at least give the RX-8 some consideration (and perhaps a test drive) first.